The federal government has banned recipients of honorary degrees from using the “Dr” title, declaring such usage a form of academic fraud punishable by law.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the directive on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, while briefing State House correspondents on decisions approved by the Federal Executive Council.
According to him, the move is part of sweeping reforms to curb what authorities describe as the widespread abuse and commercialisation of honorary academic awards across Nigerian universities.
“The recent trend we’ve seen with the award of honorary degrees has revealed a growing abuse and politicisation of this academic privilege,” Alausa said.
“We’ve seen awards being used for political patronage, for financial gain, as well as the conferral of awards on serving public officials, which should not happen.”
Under the new policy, honorary degree holders are barred from prefixing “Dr” to their names in any official, academic, or professional context.
Instead, they are required to use the full designation of the award after their names to clearly indicate its honorary status.
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Alausa gave examples such as “Chief Louis Clark, D.Lit. (Honoris Causa)” and “Mrs. Miriam Adamu, LL.D. Hons,” stressing that any attempt to present honorary titles as earned academic qualifications would be treated as misrepresentation.
“Recipients shall not prefix doctor to their names. Misrepresentation of honorary degrees as earned academic credentials shall be considered academic fraud and subject to legal and reputational consequences,” he said.
The minister said the policy, approved by the Federal Executive Council, also standardises the categories of honorary degrees Nigerian universities can award, limiting them to four: Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Lit), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
In a further clampdown, universities without active Ph.D programmes have been barred from conferring honorary degrees altogether, a move aimed at halting what officials described as the proliferation of “mushroom institutions” awarding titles without academic capacity.
Alausa noted that all honorary degrees must explicitly carry the words “honorary” or “Honoris Causa” on certificates and in formal references.
He said the policy would be enforced by the National Universities Commission (NUC), which will issue compliance directives to vice-chancellors and governing councils nationwide.
For over a decade, Nigeria’s academic community has raised concerns about the erosion of standards in the award of honorary degrees, often accusing universities of trading such honours for political influence and financial patronage.
Attempts to address the issue, including the 2012 Keffi Declaration by vice-chancellors, failed due to lack of legal backing.
“The association doesn’t have any legal authority to enforce compliance,” Alausa said.
“That is why we brought this to the Federal Executive Council, which now gives it full legal and executive backing.”
He added that the government would begin monitoring convocation ceremonies and collaborate with the media to discourage misuse of academic titles, while also publishing an annual list of legitimate honorary degree recipients.
